How Things Should Have Been
by SamInk
Summary: Sirius was freed in Harry's third year at Hogwarts, Pettigrew was sent to Azkaban for aiding Lord Voldemort in murdering the Potters. Harry is to move in with Sirius finally he will leave the Dursleys . full summary inside
1. The News Spreads

So I decided to fix up all of my crappy chapters and try to make them a bit longer than they were originally, so to those of you who have already read this I'm sorry about reposting the first chapter, but I have come up with some ideas that might make this story flow a bit better, and now that school has ended I have a lot more time to work on my fics. So enjoy to those who haven't already read this chapter, to those who already read it you might find some differences or you might not.

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Summary: Sirius was freed in Harry's third year at Hogwarts, Pettigrew was sent to Azkaban for aiding Lord Voldemort in murdering the Potters. Harry is to move in with Sirius (finally he will leave the Dursleys). This is what should have happened if things had gone as planned.

**Chapter One **

**The News Spreads**

The headlines in this week's Daily Prophet were some that Harry Potter would never forget. They read: "Sirius Black A Free Man!"

"_Yes its true Sirius Black the man who was believed to have killed 12 muggles and one Peter Pettigrew is said to have been freed by the Ministry when new evidence appeared stating that Peter Pettigrew was not in fact killed by Black those thirteen years ago. The Ministry has just revealed that Pettigrew faked his death when he was cornered by Black after leaving the Potter residence the night that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named disappeared. _

_As it turns out Black wasn't the traitor, Pettigrew betrayed the Potters to the Dark Lord. Pettigrew was the Potter's secret keeper after Black asked James Potter to replace him for Pettigrew at the time it seemed like a smart plan, no one would have thought that the Potters would make Pettigrew their secret keeper. However no one would have thought that Pettigrew the weakest of the five friends would turn traitor and send You-Know-Who after the Potters. _

_When Black arrived at the Potter residence and found it destroyed he went after Pettigrew when Black found him he cornered him in a muggle alleyway and Pettigrew made it appear as if Black were responsible for the killings. When the Ministry arrived at the scene they saw what Pettigrew wanted then to see, they saw Black standing there with the only thing remaining was Pettigrew's finger which he cut off before transforming into a rat ( Pettigrew was/is an unregistered animagus). That was when the Ministry hauled Mr. Black off to Azkaban Prison where he would reside for the rest of his life. The Ministry also failed to give Black a trial. The Ministry has now issued a public apology to Mr. Black and have given him a nice amount of gold to help him get back on his feet for false immprisonment. _

_Many people sure aren't happy about this new release many wizards and witches believe that Black somehow confounded the Ministry somehow, the Wizarding World will just have to learn to accept this new development it seems."_

Everyone who knew the truth about Sirius was ecstatic about the happy news but no one was as happy as Harry James Potter and Remus J. Lupin. At the moment they were catching up with the ex-convict at the Leaky Cauldron.

"I still can't believe it Sirius, you're finally free!" Harry said

"I can't believe it myself either Harry, I spent the last twelve years of my life in that place. It just feels so good to never have to go back" Sirius replied happily.

"So what are you going to do now that you're a free agent again Padfoot?" asked Remus.

"Well the first thing I'm going to do is take care of my godson like James and Lily wanted me to do." Sirius said while turning to look at Harry who was speechless.

"Really? Sirius you actually meant what you said? About me living with you?" Harry asked excitedly not daring to believe his ears.

"Of course I meant it Harry, I would want nothing more than to have you living with me." Sirius said with a smile.

" I - I don't know what to say except when can I move in." said a happy Potter. At that both Remus and Sirius laughed.

"Well first things first Harry we have to tell your aunt and uncle and I still have to find a house for us."

"Oh don't worry about my aunt and uncle Sirius they will be more than happy to be rid of me, and I can't say that I'll be devestated to finally be away from them for good." said Harry bitterly.

"What do you mean Harry? They haven't hurt you have they, physically I mean." said a worried Sirius.

"No nothing like that, they would never hurt me I guess they're afraid of what I could do to them. They just never liked me because of what I am so it would be great if I never had to go back. It also doesn't help that the first time they met a wizard he gave their son a pig tail." Harry said, laughing at that last comment.

"Hagrid told me about that, he said that he was trying to turn him into a pig but the spell didn't quite work out. Well you got your wish Harry, you will nerver have to go back to those muggles ever again, not if I have anything to do with it. Sirius said unable to stop smiling. At that a smile crept on Harry's face as well as Remus's.

"Well as much fun as it was to catch up I think we should head back to the Burrow, Molly is probably worried sick about you Harry. We told her we would only be gone for two hours. " Remus said getting up from his chair.

"You're right Moony we should head back. I still have to talk to Dumbledore about having you live with me Harry."

"Why do you need to talk to Dumbledore about me moving in with you Sirius?" asked a curious Harry.

"Because he might want to add extra protection to wherever it is that we will be living, that's why." replied Sirius as they walked towards the fireplace to floo to the Burrow.

When they arrived they were greeted by a harried Molly. "Where have you three been? Do you know how I worried that something might have happened when you didn't come back after you said that you would only be gone for two hours, its been four Remus!" Molly said glaring at the three as if they were her own children.

"I apologize Molly I guess we just lost track of time talking over everything that's happened these past twelve years." Sirius said giving her his famous puppy dog eyes. Immediately Molly smiled and said, "No worries Sirius I'm sure you had a lot of questions for Harry and Remus. I overreacted a little bit." and with that she walked out into the garden.

"Wow Sirius how did you do that Mrs. Weasley never just drops an argument like that, at least not when she's really worried. She yelled at Ron, Fred and George all day when they freed me back in second year because they 'borrowed' Mr. Weasley's car." Harry said in awe of his godfather.

Sirius chuckled, "Women can't resist these eyes Harry."

At that Remus laughed, "If I remember correctly Padfoot you eyes never worked on Lily, she saw right through you every single time you did something." Harry laughed and Sirius looked slightly hurt. They then heard Mrs. Weasley call them out to the garden and they headed out for a big surprise

When the new happy family walked out to the Weasley's back yard they were surprised at what they found. The Weasley's had put together a 'Congraulations Sirius' surprise party, the three stopped as soon as they noticed all the people that were standing there beaming.

"Did you two know about this?" Sirius asked turning to Remus and Harry.

"I had no idea," they both said at the same time. At that they couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Come on Sirius lets go meet up with everyone." Harry said still laughing slightly as he walked towards where the Weasley clan was.

"Tell me the truth Moony did you two know about this little surprise?"

"I assure you Padfoot I had no idea and neither did Harry, we're just as shocked as you are." Remus said with an amused smile on his face. "Come on you can't be late to your own party now can you."

The Weasley's went overboard working on Sirius's surprise party, they had rented a giant tent and had bewitched a banner to say things like "Congrats Sirius!" or "Free at last!" (Fred and George thought of that one). All in all the party was a great success everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. Since Harry, Sirius and Remus were staying at the Burrow until the renovations were done at the Black Manor they all went inside to enjoy some quiet time before heading up to bed. When they entered the house however they were shocked to see a young woman standing in the middle of the living room. When she saw Sirius she said, "Well it seems that the Ministry has finally come to their senses and freed you Sirius. It was about time they figured out you were an innoncent man."She then smiled at the shell-shocked Weasley clan, Harry, Remus, and Sirius.


	2. An Unexptected Guest

Well here is chapter 2 I hope it makes a bit more sense than the first version although I didn't change much, the dialogue is a bit different but not much so if you already read this chapter the first time around it doesn't matter whether you read this one or not. This is more of a filler to get to the next chapter which i hope will be considerably longer.

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**An Unexpected Guest**

Everyone was in shock, but no one as much as Sirius and Remus, they seemed to have just stopped functioning completely. Everyone else had only one thought in their minds, who was this strange girl? She couldn't have been over seventeen but yet she greeted Sirius like he was an old friend. Suddenly the strange woman walked forward towards Sirius and Remus and embraced them in a hug, they returned the embrace with still shocked faces.

When they broke apart the silence was finally broken by Sirius. "Samantha what are you doing here? We haven't seen you since our graduation."

"Well I thought it was time to see my godson now that I am finally free to do as I please." Samantha stated as if it were the obvious answer. Something about her response however stuck to Harry 'it was time to see my godson', who was she talking about? Surely she couldn't be talking about any of the Weasleys or Harry, she was much too young to be the godmother of any of the children seeing as she wasn't much older than they were.

"But where have you been all this time Sam we haven't heard from you since the day you skipped out after our graduation ceremony." Remus said confused yet glad to see an 'old' friend again.

"Um excuse us for interrupting but who exactly is this person?" questioned Fred

"And how can we get to know her better?" both twins asked with sly smiles

At that last comment the girl who called herself Samantha smiled and replied, "I'm older than I look so don't waste your time."

"Fred and George are right Sirius who is she? I think you three own the rest of us an explanation." Mrs. Weasley said

"Your right Molly we do need to explain things to everyone." replied Remus who then gestured for Sirius to do the honors.

Sirius sighed, turned to Harry and said, "Harry I'd like you to meet your godmother Samantha Sawyer."

Harry stared at Sirius like he had just grown an extra head. "My godmother?"

"Yes Harry your godmother, she was your mother's best friend at school."

"How can she be my godmother when she doesn't look older than seventeen? This doesn't make any sense." Harry responded in disbelief.

"I know this is hard for you to grasp Harry but its true she's your godmother and the reason that she doesn't look a day over seventeen is well she's a vampire she stopped aging the day she was turned. I think we should let her explain things to you."

At that everyone turned and looked at Samantha, "Well there's really not much to say really. When I heard that Sirius had been arrested I left not wanting to believe that he had betrayed James and Lily but as I thought about it, it was the only thing that made sense. We all knew that James wanted Sirius as secret keeper. After that I decided to go off on my own for a while. I was devastated about the loss of my friends so I decided not to come back, and that was the biggest mistake of my life, I lost thirteen years with my godson. I just hope that you can forgive me Harry, if I had known what Dumbledore was planning to do with you I never would have left you. And I hope that you can forgive me Sirius of thinking that you had betrayed us." Samantha finished sadly.

There was silence, Harry didn't know what to say to this he didn't even know this woman and yet here she was asking for him to forgive her for something that had happened so long ago. Then Sirius did something that no one had expected, he took a couple steps towards her and gave her a strong bear-like hug. "Of course I forgive you Sam. I don't blame you for thinking that I turned traitor, James, Lily and I never told anyone that we had switched Secret Keepers. We knew that someone on our side had turned traitor but we didn't know who, Peter was the safest bet but I guess we were wrong there."

Harry, Remus and the Weasleys just stood there watching the exchange until finally Harry spoke up and said, "Look Samantha…"

"Please Harry call me Sam."

Harry smiled at that and corrected himself, "Sam I don't blame you either I mean sure it would have been great to have known you sooner but what's done is done, there's nothing we can do about it. What's important is that you're here and maybe we can get to know each other properly." At that Sam ran to Harry and gave him a hug just at strong as Sirius's hug had been.

"You have no idea how happy that makes me Harry, I am son glad that you want to get to know me as much as I want to get to know you."

"Why wouldn't I you're my godmother there's nothing I would like more than to get to know my godmother."

Mrs. Weasley who looked like she was about to cry said, "Why don't we all go into the living room and get comfortable, I'll bring some tea."

"None for me Molly." Samantha said earning a small chuckle from the twins.

Everyone else went into the living room where Samantha started telling her story about how she spent thirteen years alone.


	3. Surprises

**Here is chapter 3 my longest chapter so far and I will try to continue writing even longer chapters if I can I hope this chapter adds some insight as to who Sam really is. Enjoy!

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Chapter Three

**Surprises**

They spent the better half of the night listening to Sam talk about her life in America where she spent most of her thirteen years. She explained that she would always choose to stay near a Wizarding community to learn the latest news about the Wizarding world, which is how she learned that Sirius was finally deemed an innocent man.

"As soon as I found that out I apparated to the Leaky Cauldron and booked a room, I saw the three of you talking and overheard that you were headed to the Burrow so I waited a while and then I apparated here. That's about it." Samantha finished her story, then asked, "So Harry what have you been up to at Hogwarts?"

"I think I'd like to know that too Harry." said Sirius with a slight smile. Harry seemed a bit uncomfortable along with Ron and Hermione.

"Well you know nothing special really just trying to get by on my studies you know." Harry said with a small smile and a red face.

"Come now you three tell them the truth, they all deserve to know." said Mrs. Weasley with a stern face.

"Surely it can't be that bad?" asked Sam while Remus started laughing and said, "Sam it's worse than what you think trust me when I say that you are going to be quite shocked when you hear about the little adventures these three have had and the role they had in freeing Sirius."

"Well then you better start explaining yourselves you three." Sirius said with anticipation.

Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other and let out a deep sigh, "If you insist." Harry said with a defeated look on his face.

So the trio began telling what happened throughout their first, second and third year at Hogwarts, Sam hadn't moved at all throughout the entire time and Sirius seemed about ready to pass out when he finally burst out and said, "You did what! Harry I can't believe you purposefully went after the Sorcerer's Stone knowing that Voldemort was after it, and you went into the Chamber of Secrets with an idiot of a professor and, and you followed Remus and I after I told you to stay with Ron and Hermione. You could have been killed countless times!" Sirius stopped his ranting, got up and hugged Harry tightly until Harry had to remind him that he couldn't breathe.

"Sirius I'm sorry but if Ron, Hermione and I hadn't done all of that then Voldemort would probably have already come back and you would probably still be in Azkaban so I don't regret any of those things that I did because they brought me here to you, to my family." At that Sam stood up and hugged Harry and Sirius joined a second later. When they pulled apart Sam looked about ready to cry and Sirius might have had a few tears running down his cheek but if asked he would just say that something had caught in his eyes. At that moment Mrs. Weasley stood up and said, "Well I think its about time that everyone went to bed go on now off to sleep. Sam dear you can stay in Percy's room."

"Thank you Molly but I don't think the bed would be of much use to me see I don't sleep I haven't since I was bitten. I will be perfectly fine here in the living room, I was actually thinking about going out to hunt in a while." Sam said and as an after thought she added, "Don't worry I don't hurt humans I hunt animals, a little habit I picked up in America."

"If your sure dear?"

"I'm sure Molly really don't worry about me I'll be fine."

Everyone else was already headed up the stairs to their respective rooms Ron was sharing his room with Harry, Ginny was sharing with Hermione, the twins where in their room and Remus and Sirius had taken up Charlie's and Bill's rooms.

On their way up the stairs Harry, Ron and Hermione started talking about the night's events.

"Can you believe it you not only have a godfather you now have a godmother Harry. Isn't it amazing, you have a real family now." Hermione was saying excitedly

"Yeah its amazing. I really like her, she seems like I really cool person." Harry said with a smile on his face. All of a sudden Ron started laughing, Harry and Hermione both looked at him with a questioning look.

"Okay picture this: an animagus, a vampire and a werewolf all under one roof, Harry's family is made up of magical creatures." At that the trio all burst out laughing, Harry and Ron were still chuckling when they entered Ron's room, leaving Hermione on the second floor with Ginny.

The next morning came with a few more surprises, Harry and Ron had just come down for breakfast when Sirius and Remus turned to Harry and Samantha with matching grins.

"So Remus and I discussed it last night and we would love for you Sam to come and stay with us at Grimmauld Place, that is if Harry agrees." Sirius said as he turned and looked at Harry.

"I think it would be a great idea that way Sam can help Remus keep Sirius in order." Harry said with a laugh at Sirius's shocked and 'injured' expression.

"I do not need to be kept in order, how dare you say sure a thing Harry. Is that what you really think of your godfather, as a child who needs to be taken care of?" Sirius said with a n affronted expression on his face.

Remus started laughing and said, "That is exactly how everyone else sees you Padfoot its not just Harry."

Everyone in the kitchen burst into laugher and Sirius showed an expression of mock horror at his best friend calling him a child.

"Well I do believe this means war Mooney old friend." Sirius said with a mischievous smile playing on his lips.

"Bring it on Padfoot I'll be ready." Remus replied.

"Honestly you two don't you think you're a little too for that prank stuff." Sam said with a roll of her eyes.

Sirius and Remus looked at each other and replied, "No."

"Childish, the lot of you." Sam said with exasperation. Harry was watching the exchange with a grin on his face when he suddenly got a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Sam?" he asked tentatively.

"What's up Harry?"

"Well I have a couple questions about your time in America, you didn't really tell us what it is that you did there. You just said that you were staying there. I was just curious as to what happened while you were there."

"There really isn't much to tell Harry, but to satisfy your curiosity I'll tell you. Now you know how I said last night that I don't feed from humans?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's another thing that I was wondering about. I thought all vampires fed from humans." Harry said with confusion in his voice.

"Well usually that is the case because most vampires don't know that they can also feed off of animals and it will have practically the same effect. Of course vampires that do feed from humans are stronger than those of us who choose to feed from animals. Anyway onto the story.

"I was living with this American coven for a couple of years, they were a pretty decent coven, very civilized. They were the ones that helped me with my bloodlust, up until then it was a big problem for me, I could barely be around humans without wanting to drink from them. This is partly why I left to begin with, I didn't want to accidentally hurt someone that I cared about. So this coven showed me that there was an alternative to human blood and that was animal blood. So I tried that and it made my bloodlust easier to handle. I stayed with them until I knew for certain that I could control myself around other humans when I knew that I could control it I left, they were all okay with my decision. I had stated from the beginning that my stay there wasn't going to be permanent and that I had a family that I wanted to see eventually." At this she turned and looked at the three people in the room who were now hanging on to every word that Sam said.

"So what did you do when you left the American coven?" Harry asked.

"Well I traveled for a while never staying in one place for too long but when I did find a place that I thought I could stay in for a while I would change my appearance and make myself look older, closer to the age that I would have been if I hadn't been bitten."

"Wait what do you mean you made yourself look older, with a spell?" asked Harry with some confusion in his voice.

"Didn't we tell you yesterday Harry? Sam is a metamorphmagus just, she can change her appearance at will. A rather ingenious talent for a vampire, she can live in a place for as long as she wants without people noticing that she doesn't age." Remus replied with a wry smile.

"Did you have this ability before you were bitten or did it come after that?" Hermione asked, no one had noticed that she and Ron had entered the kitchen and sat down on either sides of Harry.

"No I've had this ability ever since I was born, it came in handy a lot during our school days." Sam said with a sad smile on her face as she remembered happier times when all of her friends where still alive.

"So if you could change how you looked why didn't you settle down in one place?" asked Ron.

"I didn't want to get too attached to anyone, after what had happened to James and Lily I felt like I couldn't trust anyone anymore so I tended to separate myself from people so that the same thing wouldn't happen again. I didn't want to risk getting too close to someone and then have then get hurt because of it." there was a hint of sadness in Sam's voice when she said that and everyone else turned to look at Harry in disbelief.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"Harry you've done the exact same thing with us during all those little adventures of ours, you kept insisting that we go and leave you so that we wouldn't get hurt. Its just a shock to hear someone else say that." Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"Well she has a point, being friends with me has gotten you two into a lot of trouble, you even got turned into a cat because of me Hermione and you were petrified." Harry said in his defense.

"There's something that I learned however during my travels, and is Harry that no matter how dangerous something may seen its better to have the people that care about you the most with you, because in the end they just might be the ones to save you. I know I said I came back because I heard that Sirius was finally free but eventually I would have come back because of you Harry and no amount of pushing away was going to keep me from being with you every step of the way." Sam said while looking straight at Harry. At that Harry gave a small sheepish smile.

"Well I think that's enough of that subject how about some breakfast. I'm starving." Ron said and to emphasize his point his stomach started to growl. Everyone started to laugh at an oblivious Ron. "What, I barely ate anything last night."

"Leave it to Ron's stomach to ruin a moment." said Harry with a chuckle.

At that the laughter just got louder and everyone went to get their plates to start on the feast that Mrs. Weasley had started preparing while everyone was listening to Sam's story.

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The coven that Sam is talking about is loosely based on the Cullen family from the Twilight novels and that is the only reference that I will ever have of them, this is not a Twilight/Harry Potter crossover so they will not appear in my story. I just wanted a reason as to why Sam doesn't feed on humans and this popped into my head. So let me know what you think of this chapter.


	4. A Discussion

Here is chapter 4 which I think is a whole lot better than my first attempt at writing this chapter. There is som Dumbledore bashing but not much and I doubt that it will escelate very much, also I have changed the name of this chapter, I think this one suits it better. I will still use the name of the original chapter 4 for a later chapter, not sure which one yet. Enjoy!**

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Chapter Four

**A Discussion **

It had been a week since Samantha came back and the strange family couldn't have been happier. They were getting ready to head to their permanent home, Black Manor. At the moment Sirius was with the twins discussing possible pranks that could be played on Remus, little did they know that Remus was doing the same thing with Ginny, who having grown up the only girl seemed to have excellent ideas. The trio were trying to stay away from what would undoubtedly become a full on prank war. They were currently out in the garden trying to convince some of the gnomes to come out, or rather Ron was while Harry and Hermione were laughing at how an especially fat gnome had bitten Ron's forefinger.

An hour later Mrs. Weasley called everyone back to the house for lunch, this would be the last lunch where everyone would be together since Harry, Sirius, Remus and Sam were to move into Black Manor the next morning. Everyone had a great time eating triple helpings of Mrs. Weasley's food and just talking. The trio were sitting together discussing Harry's move tomorrow.

"I can't believe your finally going to move in with Sirius Harry, after everything that the Dursleys did to you your finally going to live with someone who really cares about you." said Hermione with a huge smile on her face.

"Yeah I know, its kind of hard to get used to, the fact that I'll never have to go back to that house again." Harry replied just as happy.

"What I can't believe is that Harry is going to be living with a werewolf, vampire and an animagus. That is so cool." said Ron showing his goofy grin.

"I'm not worried about that so much as Sirius and Remus acting their own age. Their little prank war is no where near finished and I've seen Sirius talking to Fred and George about it. I just hope they don't do anything drastic. And I hope that Sam keeps her head and doesn't decide to join in on the game."

"Oh come on Harry I bet its going to be fun watching them make complete fools of themselves. We all know Sirius needs a bit of fun after everything he's been through."

"I'm not going to disagree with that Ron, Sirius should be able to live a happy life, but he should also know that he's in charge of a teenager now and with that comes a lot of responsibility and I'm not exactly sure that he's ready for it all." Hermione replied dryly.

"Come off it Hermione Sirius is going to be a great guardian for Harry, a lot better than those muggles." Ron said happily

"Hey Ron why don't we play a game of chess?" Harry said sensing an oncoming argument between his friends. Hermione gave him a grateful smile and said, "Thanks Harry I really didn't want to get into it with him right now."

"No problem Hermione, I've gotten really good a sensing when a fight is coming on." Harry said smiling back at her and following Ron into the living room where he was setting up the chess game.

Meanwhile back in the kitchen the adults were discussing something similar to Ron and Hermione's short lived argument.

"Sirius are you sure that taking Harry in is a good idea? Maybe he should stay with his relatives until he's old enough to decide where he wants to live." Molly said with a slightly worried look on her face.

"Harry already knows where he wants to live Molly and its not with those so called relatives of his. I've actually met Petunia Dursley and she is the worst kind of person to care for a wizard. She hates anything to do with magic and Lily once told me that her husband is just as bad. James and Lily never wanted Harry to live with them, that's why they chose Sam and Sirius as godparents. They knew that Sam would love Harry like any mother and Sirius would do anything to protect him. That's all they ever wanted, someone to care for Harry like they would." Remus said

"And we intend to do just that. There is nothing you can say that will change my mind Molly, Harry wants to move in with us and I am not going to stop him." Sirius said with a determined face.

"I agree with Sirius, if Harry wants to live with his LEGAL guardians then he is more than welcome to do so. What Dumbledore did was against the wished of James and Lily and he shouldn't have been able to do that. I know for a fact that Lily wrote out specific instructions as to what he was supposed to do in case they both died." Sam said angrily.

"Albus thought he was doing the right thing in sending Harry to them, he didn't know that those muggles were going to treat him like trash, it was an honest mistake." Molly said in Dumbledore's defense.

"An honest mistake? Molly he knew exactly how much the Dursleys hated anything to do with magic. McGonagall told him everything that she was when she visited their neighborhood the day that it happened, he wouldn't listen to her. He said that it would be better for Harry to be with people who wouldn't treat him any different because he was now famous." Sam was getting angry now and had left Molly speechless, this part of the story she had never heard.

"Albus never told me that Minerva was watching the muggles. It makes sense now why he didn't want Arthur and me to care for Harry when we asked him." Molly said sadly and with a bit if resentment. "Alright Sirius I give, if you think it's a good idea to have Harry live with you then I will support you when you go and talk to Dumbledore."

"Thanks Molly, you don't know how much that means to me." replied Sirius with gratitude.

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I couldn't really figure out a way to end this chapter so I just decided to end it here, I will try to write more interesting chapters, but they will probably come up later on since nothing action worthy ever really happens during Harry's summer holidays. Don't worry though, I will have some action soon, I hope :D


	5. A Vampire,Werewolf,Animagus,and A Wizard

So here's chapter five, a very different version of chapter five but I think this version suits the story better and I hope that you like it, this one took a while before I was moderately happy with it, I'm still not 100% happy with how it ended up but I'm close so I just thought I'd update it. Enjoy.**

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Chapter Five

**A Vampire, Werewolf, Animagus, and A Wizard**

Morning dawned with Harry, Sirius, Remus and Samantha getting ready to move into their new home. They all rose at the crack of dawn (a first for Sirius) and started moving their things into the manor, the move took all of ten minutes. After the first box Sirius decided to speed things up a bit and magically sent all the boxes to their respective rooms (the Ministry had returned him his wand when they had deemed him innocent, for some reason the Minister hadn't snapped the wand in half). By the time Remus and Sam finished cooking their lunch (Sirius of course had not one cooking bone in his body, just watched from a safe distance), everyone was all set up in their rooms. Harry being the only one unable to do magic was the last to finish setting up his things in his new room, walked down to the kitchen for lunch and found a gigantic food fight in the works. He stood there just staring at the supposed 'adults' that were meant to care for him, he couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous the scene looked and yet he was happy to see that despite everything those three had gone through they were still able to act like children once in a while and have fun. Suddenly a questionable substance hit him square in the face, it turns out that Remus (with his extra sensitive hearing) had heard Harry walk into the kitchen and thought he would surprise the teen by throwing food at him.

"Oh this means war." Harry muttered as soon as he saw who had thrown the food at him.

Harry walked out of the kitchen and ran to his room getting a firework that the Weasley twins had given him and ran back downstairs. He set the firework at the entrance and activated it, he then stepped away from the doorway of the kitchen and waited for the explosion. It didn't disappoint. As soon as Harry was out of harms way the firework exploded and Harry ran to the doorway to survey the damage. What he saw made him fall to the floor laughing so hard that he was having quite some trouble breathing.

There standing by the table were Sam, Sirius and Remus, their faces were covered in soot from the firework. All of their hair was completely on end and smoke was coming out making them look like mad scientists, they reminded Harry of a picture of Einstein that he had seen in elementary school. That thought only made him laugh even harder.

"Y- you- ha-ha look - hahahahaha." Harry wasn't able to finish as he was still having trouble breathing let alone form coherent sentences.

The three adults then looked at each other and burst out laughing as well at how ridiculous they all looked. They went at it for about five minutes before everyone was able to calm down and only occasionally could you hear small snickers of laughter.

"Alright, Harry I have to admit you got us good." said Sirius with a goofy grin on his face that seemed to be permanently sketched on his face.

"Where did you get those fireworks anyway? I don't think I've seen any quite like that one." Remus said with a hint of curiosity.

" Fred and George gave them to me for my birthday last year and I hadn't gotten around to using any of them. I think they are an invention of the twins." Harry said still smiling.

"Really? They made those? That's quite an ingenious bit of magic that those two can do." Sam said impressed that two teenage boys could have made something like that.

"Yeah they're really good at inventing things, they even want to open a joke shop when they get out of Hogwarts. I doubt that Mrs. Weasley is going to be very happy about that." said Harry

"No I can't imagine that she would be too happy with their chosen career, but its not like she can stop them. From what I know of the twins, once they know what they want to do nothing and no one can stop them from accomplishing it." said Remus remembering his days teaching Fred and George at Hogwarts. "Well I think we should clean this mess up and just go to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch."

"I think that's a great idea Mooney, maybe we can even tell Harry about the day that we all met." Sirius suggested

"Really? I've always wondered how you guys met my dad and how it was that you ended up in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin like the rest of your family Sirius." Harry said, curiosity practically radiating from him.

"Actually Harry my being sorted into Gryffindor has a lot to do with how I became best friends with you dad. But I will tell you more when we get to the Leaky Cauldron. Now lets move people I'm not getting any younger and I would like to be fed sometime today!"

"Always letting your stomach rule your reasoning aren't you Padfoot." Sam said chuckling slightly.

"Alright lets go everyone, Harry you go first." Remus said giving Harry the pot full of floo powder.

"Remember Harry its 'Leaky Cauldron' not 'leakycauldron'." Sirius said laughing slightly.

"You're never going to let me forget that are you?" Harry said his face turning a light shade of pink from embarrassment.

"Nope, now get going before I pass out from food deprivation."

"Leaky Cauldron!" Harry yelled out while stepping into the fireplace, this time he remembered to take his glasses off and close his eyes so as not to get dizzy and come tumbling out of the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron.

"Well two out of three isn't bad." Harry said as he still managed to fall flat on his face as soon as he stopped spinning. Seconds later he was met by Sirius, then Sam and lastly Remus.

As soon as everyone was present Sirius yelled to Tom the barkeep, "Hey, Tom table for four please!"

"Doesn't waste any time, does he." Harry said while the other three followed Sirius to the table indicated to by Tom.

"Not when it comes to food Harry." Remus replied.

"Come on!" Sirius yelled, he was now sitting at the table with a menu in his hands. The other three just laughed and went to sit with the eager man.

Once everyone had ordered (Sirius somehow managed to restrain himself from ordering everything on the menu) they settled down to wait for their food.

"So Harry, I think you should know about how it was that we all ended up in the same compartment on the train, so I am going to explain everything that happened that first day of the rest of my life. Beginning with the moment that I woke up." Sirius said now going into story mode.

"I had woken up early that day, it was after all the day that I was finally going to be able to leave my house and not go back until next June. I had already made up my mind that I would not go back for the winter or Easter holidays, the less time I could spend with my family the better. Anyway my trunk was all packed and I was all ready to go, in a couple of hours I would be gone from the horrid place and I could begin to start living my life how I wanted to live it.'

"My parents were so sure that I was going to be a Slytherin, they didn't know that behind their backs I was wishing with all my heart to be sorted into Gryffindor. Finally the time came to leave, my parents took me to the station, not even waiting for me to get on the train before apparating back home to make sure that my younger brother was alright on his own. My brother Regulus was their favorite, he was everything that they wanted in a child, obedient and easily broken into. He was two years younger than I was so he wouldn't be joining me at Hogwarts until I was in my second year.'

" The second that my parents left I ran into the train to find a place to sit preferably somewhere where no Slytherins in site. The first couple of compartments that I found were all full so I walked until I found a semi-empty compartment and inside I found a young boy with messy raven colored hair and glasses. He was looking out the window and waving at the people who I later found out were his parents. When I saw this I thought to myself 'this is how its supposed to be, parents waiting until the last minute to depart, to make sure that their child is safe.' I could see right away that this boy was going to miss his parents while at school while I couldn't wait to escape mine. When he turned away from the window I knocked on the compartment door to get his attention and asked "Excuse me, but would it be alright if I sat with you. All the other compartments are full and this is the first one that I've found that is moderately empty."

The boy answered "Sure go ahead." and I entered the compartment and introduced myself, "I'm Sirius, Sirius Black."

"Name's James Potter, nice to meet you."

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So what did you think? I wanted to show that despite having a miserable 12 years the three adults were still able to be happy and a part of that has to do with them finally being able to get to know Harry like they were meant to do. The next chapter is going to be about how Remus met James and Sirius and it will be a bit emotional for him. Let me know what you think of the chapter.


	6. The Tale of A Young Wolf

Here is the next chapter, I'm sorry I wasn't able to upload it sooner I tried to believe me I did but I found it very hard to get into Remus's head and come up with something that seemed possible for his meeting with James and Sirius and his thoughts were a bit tricky as well. I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. Enjoy!

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Chapter 6

The Tale of A Young Wolf

"From then on were always seen together." Sirius finished with a sad smile on his face. "That's about it. I know for a fact that Remus had a much more enjoyable morning than I did." ,at this Sirius turned to look at Remus with a grin.

"Your right about that Padfoot, I did have a rather, shall we say 'enthusiastic' morning." Remus replied with a slight chuckle.

"Why what happened?" Harry asked.

"Before I tell you about that morning you should know how I was able to even attend Hogwarts. As you know people like me weren't able to get an education, at least not at schools like Hogwarts. If we wanted to learn then our parents would have to hire tutors to come to our homes and teach us there. When Dumbledore became headmaster I was able to attend school like any other child, he opened many possibilities that I didn't think I would ever have. One of those was the ability to, for once in my life act like any other boy my age.'

" To say I was excited when I received my letter is an understatement, I remember that day as clearly as if it just happened. I had gotten my letter a few weeks after my eleventh birthday, at first I thought it was a joke, after all my parents had told me the previous year that my going to Hogwarts wasn't a possibility. I almost threw the letter away but my mother saw it and took it from me reading it to make sure that it was authentic. It was. A few days later Dumbledore himself came to my home and explained to us that the letter was indeed real and he would really want for me to attend Hogwarts in the fall. There were of course things to be arranged so I wouldn't harm any of the other students I had to be hidden once a month during my transformation, that was when he spoke of the tree that had been planted over the entrance to the Shrieking Shack. I don't think I've ever seen my parents cry so much in their lives and to know that they were tears of joy only made that more special and real to me, I was going to be able to go to Hogwarts.'

"By the beginning of August I had all my things ready and was counting down the days to September the first. Finally the last day of August came, I was going to Hogwarts in just twenty-four hours. That night I went to sleep early, not wanting to wake up late for the train. Suffice it to say I couldn't sleep at all, I tossed and turned all night long, I think I was lucky to have slept three or four hours. At the first sign of light I jumped out of bed and got dressed. I was dragging my trunk downstairs when my parents woke up from all the noise, when they saw what I was doing they just smiled and helped me with the trunk. They knew what a big deal this was for me, and for them as well; we didn't think that I would ever have the chance to get a normal education and Dumbledore gave me that opportunity.'

" We arrived at Kings Cross Station and I couldn't stand my excitement any longer, although if you were to look at me I was the epitome of calm, on the inside however I was jumping with joy. There was still a half hour to go before the train was set to leave, my father helped me with my trunk and I followed my parents back to the platform for our goodbyes. My parents were extremely worried about me going to school away from them, they thought that my 'furry little problem' would end up to be a problem. They relented when they heard that Dumbledore had taken precautions, I don't need to tell you what those were, as you know Harry and as I explained previously, the Whomping Willow was planted for me to have a way to sneak into the Shrieking Shack. (Merlin knows we used that passage way for other things once we got older.) Despite that reassurance my parents were still reluctant to let me go, they were happy for me that much I am certain of, they were just scared that if someone were to find out about my problem then there would be repercussions to be paid.'

"However reluctant they were, they still allowed me to board the train, I wasn't to see them until the Christmas break (it would be two years until I was comfortable enough to spend the holidays with friends). So I boarded the train thinking that I would find a nice empty quiet compartment to sit in when I passed by an open compartment with two other first years inside, one of them noticed me and said "Hey, you a first year too?" When I replied that I was indeed a first year the two boys asked me if I'd like to share a compartment with them. Both boys had jet black hair the difference was, one of the boy's hair was so untidy it appeared that he had just gotten out of bed. The other boy seemed to radiate this sort of confidence about him, like he knew his place in the world even at the age of eleven. I envied that, I had never quite felt comfortable in my own skin, you can probably imagine why Harry.'

" To say that I was shocked at having already be on my way to acquiring friendships this early on was an understatement, the children in our neighborhood tended to stay away from me due to the fact that at times me screams could be heard on the nights of the full moon, suffice it to say I scared them away without even getting to know them. I'm sure you understand where I'm coming from Harry, from what you've told me of your life with the Dursleys you didn't seem to have any friends, I sympathize.'

"Anyway as I was saying, the two boys seemed to have known each other for a while, (I was later to find out that they had just met that day) this made me feel a bit out of place and I was about to decline their offer to sit with them when I decided if I was to have friends then I should start now, the sooner the better. So I sat down and introduced myself:

"Thanks for letting me sit here."

"No problem, we were bound to meet eventually. What's your name anyway? I'm James and that prat over there is Sirius." James said with a small smirk directed at Sirius.

"Remus, Remus Lupin." I said, I was terrified that they had somehow found out about my condition and immediately ask me to leave the compartment, of course I knew that this was irrational no one but Dumbledore and a few teachers knew what I was.'

"After the first few hours I was able to finally relax without having the fear that someone was about to suddenly yell out "Werewolf!" and I got to know me fellow classmates. I found out that Sirius hated his family and couldn't wait until he was old enough to finally leave his home. I found out James was an only child like myself but unlike me he had an abundance of friends who were to my surprise mainly muggle children from his neighborhood, (he had told them that he had been accepted into an elite boarding school). I got to know these two boys fairly well and knew that from then on we would be inseparable. Nothing would tear us apart."

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So what did you think? Was my portrayal of Remus plausible or was it too out there? I am trying to stay as close to their personalities as I can with a few small changes that I thought personally some characters needed. Anyway I think the next chapter will be about my fave new character Sam and how she dealt with being at Hogwarts :D Review (insert puppy dog face here) Until next time America (or where ever it is that you readers are) ;)


	7. Dracula's Story

So here is chapter 7, I'm sorry I wasn't able to update sooner but school has been really hectic and my midtrems are coming up this week. I will be typing up a few chapters at a time so that there won't be such a long wait next time. Enjoy.

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Chapter 7

Dracula's Story

"That was really touching Moony, you almost had me crying here." Sirius said breaking the silence that followed Remus's story.

"Stuff it Padfoot. I know for a fact that you felt the same way when our first year ended." Remus replied with a slight grin.

"That may be true but I never phrased it in such a cheesy way my dear friend." was Sirius's reply.

"Can we possibly get on with the story, I'd like to know how Sam met you lot and I'd like to do it without having you two interrupting every few minutes." Harry said knowing a er, "discussion" would undoubtedly ensue if someone didn't stop the bickering Marauders.

"As you wish dear Godson, as you wish." Sirius said, the three wizards then turned to look at Sam who had kept quiet during the entire exchange knowing that her turn would soon come.

"Well unlike these two I didn't meet James until I was sorted into Gryffindor and I didn't really get along with him in the beginning -"

"That's an understatement." Sirius muttered but quieted down with a murderous look from his Godson.

"As I was saying, I didn't meet James on the train even though I did know who he was, but I did meet Lily. In fact we sat together on the train, actually she did something quite funny to your father when he came into our compartment during the ride to Hogwarts and after that incident we became very good friends. And that friendship continued all throughout our school years. But before I get too into that let me tell you about my first train ride and the infamous Lily temper.'

"My parents were both magical so I grew up much like James did and like James I was taught early on that muggles were just as good as wizards and to never treat them any different than I would my family. So when I learned that Lily was a muggleborn I saw nothing wrong with it. Mind you when I met her I would have thought she was from a magical family. I first saw her on the train already in her Hogwarts robes and reading one of her text books with such interest that I was almost tempted to go find another compartment.

I entered and she immediately looked up to see who had disturbed her reading, when she saw who it was she said, "Oh, hello. I thought you might have been that annoying boy again."

Being the curious person that I am I asked, "What boy?"

"The one with the messy black hair and glasses. He was in here a while ago and he just wouldn't leave."

"Ah yes I saw him on my search for a compartment, he seems a bit arrogant for a first year." I replied.

"Yes I thought the same thing when he was in here." Lily said, then changed the topic to more pleasant topics. "What house do u believe you'll get into? Personally I want to be in Gryffindor, it seems to be the house with the most history don't you think."

"Yes I hope to be in Gryffindor as well, my whole family has been in Gryffindor for as long as I can remember and I'd like to keep the tradition going."

"So your whole family is magical then?" Lily asked

"As far as I can remember yeah, why isn't your family magical?" I asked

"No I'm the first one in my family to ever develop magic powers." she replied

"Oh so you're a muggleborn then. That's really fascinating, I don't really know much of the muggle world. Maybe we can exchange knowledge, I can talk to you about the Wizarding world and you can tell me about the muggle world." I said.

"I'd like that very much, I only know what I've read in books and that doesn't help as much as I thought it would." Lily replied.

"Yes to fully understand some of the most unique pureblood traditions it is better to have someone who has participated in them. That is where I come in, mind you some of these are strange even to my family but that is because we don't buy into the whole pureblood supremacy thing like other families do." I said with disgust at the nerve of the other more 'superior' pureblood families.

"Do they really hate muggles so much that they torture them with Unforgiveables?" Lily asked with slight fear in her voice.

"Some have gone that far but many just hate muggles from afar, not really doing anything to hurt them other than insulting anyone who might have a muggle parent or relative." I replied matter-of-factly. At that moment the last person we both wanted to see appeared in our compartment, James Potter and his little group of friends.

"Why hello ladies, you two seem a bit lonely here all by yourselves. Why don't you join us in our compartment?" Potter said with a confident tone.

"Why in the world would we want to do that Potter? There is nothing that you can offer us that will make us want to sit with you for the remainder of the ride." Lily replied coldly.

"Come now Evans you know you can't resist my charm for very long, why not just give in already."

Lily got up and walked up to where Potter was standing and said, "You're right James I can't resist any longer, I just have to do this." Potter had a smile on his face as Lily got closer to him and suddenly Lily lifted her hand and slapped him across the face. There was a resounding SMACK! Potter's friends burst out laughing and he stood there with a shocked look on his face, his cheek already reddening. "Now get out of our compartment before I do something a lot worse than that."

He didn't need telling twice, as soon as they were out of the compartment Lily slammed the sliding door shut and said, "I wanted to do that the minute, no second I met him. He is so arrogant and he hasn't even started learning magic yet."

"He's like that because he's a part of a very important pureblood family, however from what I've heard they are like my family; they dislike anything that has to do with Dark magic." I said, trying to defend the boy even though I agreed with Lily.

"That still doesn't give him the right to act that way, I don't care if he's the Minister I still find him repulsive."

"Yes he is rather full of himself." I said with a giggle, even then I could tell that those two were going to end up together.

We finally arrived at Hogwarts and with that came both the feeling of excitement and fear of the sorting. Lily and I had spent the remainder of the train ride discussing all four of the houses and we were sure that we would either be in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, but now that the time had come we weren't so certain anymore. All we knew was that we didn't want to be separated.'

"As you already know we were both sorted into Gryffindor and so was James and these two morons much to mine and Lily's dismay. That first night in our dorms was one of the best memories I have of Lily, the expression that she had on her face whenever she saw things that weren't meant to be possible in the muggle world. It is something that I will never forget. Even now when I think back to that moment and I see her face full of wonder and amazement it makes me sad that I wont be able to ever see that face again other than in my memories.'

"Your mother was an amazing person Harry and I see her in you every time I look at you and I see those brilliant emerald eyes of yours. She would be very proud of how despite everything you have been through you have become such an amazing and wonderful wizard. Your father would probably be wishing that you would participate more in the art of pranking, but he would also be very proud of you. I know for a fact that all three of us are proud of you and all I can hope for is that we are able to finish raising you like I know your parents would have raised you." Sam finished, and if Harry didn't know that vampires aren't able to cry he would have bet anything that Sam's eyes would be full of tears right now.

"Well, I think that is enough storytelling for now, how about we head back home and Harry can get started on that homework that I know he has been putting off to the last minute." Remus said with a slight grin on his face.

"Always the teacher aren't you Mooney." Sirius replied jokingly.

"Well someone has to keep watch of Harry's studies and I know it's not going to be you Padfoot." Remus retorted back in the same joking manner.

"I think we should go before you two start throwing food again." Harry said slowly getting up from his chair.

"I agree with Harry, we don't need to get banned from the Leaky Cauldron … again." Sam said.

"Again, you've been banned from here? Why?" Harry asked his interest peaked.

"That dear Godson is a story for another time." Sirius said with a smile.

And so the mismatched family walked to the fireplace to floo back to Grimmauld Place.

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So I hoped you liked this chapter and hopefully there will be more present time action in the upcoming chapters, I just wanted to add some James and Lily into mu story and this wont be the last thime that they will make an appearance, that is all that I will say. :) until next time


	8. Birthday Surprise

Here is chapter 8 hope you like it, it took me a really long time to get this chapter just the way I wanted it. It's probably one of my longest chapters. To make the wait for updates shorter I am going to try and write the next two or three chapters so that I will be ahead in the story and you won't have to wait so long for the next chapter, I can't make any promises though.

Hope you enjoy this chapter :)

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Chapter 8

Birthday Surprise

It had been a week since the family gathering at the Leaky Cauldron and with that week came even more stories about James and Lily, at this point Harry felt closer to his parents than he ever felt before. At the moment Harry was in his room reliving one of those afternoons in the library with his 'family', he couldn't believe how much had changed in such a short amount of time. A year ago, he was being held prisoner at the Dursley's, not even being able to use the bathroom without asking for permission first. Now however he had people who actually cared about him, not that there weren't people who cared about him before, the Weasleys were always there for him as well as Hermione. Having his own family however was something that he had never really had and now that he did, it was something that he would treasure forever.

At this moment in time Harry was being forced to "entertain" himself while his godfather, Remus and Sam prepared what they called his birthday breakfast, he was sure it would just be the usual pancakes and bacon. He was a bit sour about having been woken up just to be told that he couldn't leave his room until told to do so. "This is taking way too long." Harry said to himself as he got up and walked towards his bedroom door. He was about to open the door when he was greeted with an electrical shock to his hand, he then heard footsteps coming up the steps.

"Thought you'd seek out did you Harry?" Sirius's voice said from the other side of the door.

"C'mon Sirius this is taking way too long, even you don't take this long cooking breakfast." replied Harry slightly irritated at being forced to stay in his room for so long.

"I will overlook that little comment on behalf of it being your birthday." Sirius said in an amused voice, you could tell he was enjoying Harry's irritation.

"Enjoy it while you can Sirius, once I'm able to leave you will pay for this." Harry said in a threatening manner.

"Ohhhh I am so scared, a teenage wizard is going to hurt me.," mocked Sirius as his voice became fainter and fainter; he was headed back downstairs. "Don't worry we are almost done down here, you'll be able to come down in about ten more minutes!" yelled Remus from what Harry assumed was the bottom of the stairs.

Ten more minutes that's all, he had to wait, just ten more minutes and he could destroy Sirius.

Finally, after what felt more like ten hours rather than minutes, the door opened and there stood Remus with a grin that would put the Cheshire cat to shame. "You guys really didn't have to go to so much trouble, I would have been perfectly happy with having a normal breakfast." Harry said as the two walked down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Now what fun would that be; besides this is the first birthday we get to spend with you since you were a year old. This is as much for us as it is for you, and Sirius just wanted an excuse to eat cake." Remus said with a small chuckle at the last part.

"Does Sirius really need an excuse to eat cake Remus?" Harry replied with humor.

"I heard that you two!" came Sirius's voice as they were right outside the kitchen door. Just as Harry was about to push the door open Remus stopped him.

"Wait a moment Harry; we have to make sure that you don't peak until you're inside." Remus took out a scarf from his pocket and wrapped it around Harry's eyes. "How many fingers am I holding?" Remus said

"I dunno eleven." Harry replied cheekily.

"Alright you're ready, let's head in. We're coming in now!" he shouted the last part to Sirius and Sam in the kitchen.

"Subtle." commented Harry quietly; Remus chuckled.

"Alright Harry I'm going to take off the blindfold now." Remus said as he untied the blindfold and let it fall to the ground.

What greeted Harry's eyes the moment the blindfold was no longer impairing his vision was a sight that he had never seen on his birthday. Hermione, Ron, and Sirius were all standing behind the kitchen table with a cake and presents overflowing on the table as well as an assortment of breakfast foods.

"Wow this is amazing guys but you really didn't have to go to so much trouble, I would have been happy with just a normal breakfast." Harry said in astonishment.

"Are you kidding me Harry! This is the first birthday we get to spend with you since you were a year old, of course we had to do this! This is as much for us as it is for you." Sirius said excitedly.

"You just want cake don't you Sirius." Harry replied

"Of course I do! What person doesn't like cake?" responded Sirius happily, as he moved closer to the overflowing table. "Well I think we should start eating don't you think."

"Here, here!' replied Ron with a look of hunger in his eyes.

"Of course Ron would agree with Sirius, he's eternally ruled by his stomach." Hermione said.

"At this point we really shouldn't be surprised Hermione." Harry said with a slight smirk on his face.

"You're right Harry, Ronald will never change will he. Anyways happy birthday, it was sort of my idea to have this little breakfast party for you. I thought that you should experience a birthday as it should be, with the people who love you."

"Thanks Hermione this really means a lot, I appreciate all that you guys have done for me." replied Harry as he hugged Hermione.

A few feet away from Harry and Hermione.

"Remus did you see what I saw just now?" Sirius whispered so as to not draw attention to himself.

"What are you talking about Padfoot?" Replied Remus in the same whispering voice.

"Look at Harry and Hermione, who do they remind you of right now?" Sirius said.

Remus turned to look at the two teenagers and saw something that he hadn't seen in a long time, thirteen years to be precise. "They're just like James and Lily." Remus whispered sadly at the reminder that his two best friends weren't able to be here to see his son turn fourteen or to see him fall in love.

"Yeah, they look so happy and oblivious to everything around them that they haven't noticed that Ron has finished most of the food." Sure enough Ronald Weasley was enjoying the food very much so. "Do you think they know it yet?" Sirius whispered.

"Know what Sirius?" whispered back Remus

"That they're going to fall hard for each other, that from this moment on nothing will be the same for them." Sirius said while staring at the couple talking at the table oblivious to the fact that they were the subject of a conversation.

"If they don't know right now they will soon enough, Hermione is a very smart girl. I'm sure she's going to start realizing what her feelings are soon, as for Harry it might take him a bit longer to realize. Nonetheless they'll figure it out sooner or later." Remus said

"Well I think that it's time to blow out the candles and then presents don't you think." Sirius said loudly to get everyone's attention.

"Right you are Sirius." Sam said speaking up for the first time. "Come along now Harry its time to make a wish."

Harry got up and stood behind the cake as Sam lit the candles with her wand. "I don't really know what to wish for." Harry said

"You can wish for anything Harry but remember you can't tell anyone what your wish is or it won't come true." said Hermione.

_Right what do I wish for, I have everything I need, Sirius is out of Azkaban and is a free man. Remus has finally found out the truth about his best friends' death and can now start moving on. I finally have the family I've always wanted, what more is there. _Harry thought as he stared at the candle, then his eyes strayed to Hermione, his best friend, the one who has always stayed beside him no matter what. He didn't know why those thoughts came to mind right now but they wouldn't go away, with those thoughts in mind Harry made his wish.

_I wish Hermione would realize how much she means to me. _

_

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So I never told you that this was going to be a Harry/Hermione story I wanted to keep it hidden for as long as I could but with Sirius and Remus talking about their similarities to James and Lily I couldn't keep it a secret any longer. Thanks for that Sirius and Remus! lol jk anyway tell me what you think about this chapter and Harry's birthday is no where near finished the next chapter will continue his celebrations. Until next time.


	9. The Celebration Continues

Here is the long awaited chapter 9 I am sorry that it takes me so long to update. I had promised myself that this summer I would try to update more often but that has failed what with summer homework and my two week trip to Costa Rica. Hopefully I have made it up to you with this extra long chapter. Its my longest yet. :) Hope you like it.

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Chapter 9

The Celebration Continues

As it turns out the entire day was dedicated to Harry's birthday, Sirius and Remus wanted him to have a day that he would never forget. As the day wore on Harry couldn't help but wonder if this is how all his birthdays would have been like if he had had the opportunity to have a live with his parents. As it were these were dangerous thoughts to have during one's birthday; Harry started thinking about the unfairness of it all. Why was it that he had to give up his entire family all because some madman wanted him dead, and why did he want Harry dead to begin with. To sum it all up by the time everyone had finished with their slice of cake (or multiple slices in Sirius's case) they were met with a thoughtful and resentful Harry.

In order to not destroy the festive atmosphere Harry excused himself and went upstairs to be alone with his thoughts, no one thought much of it except of course for a certain best friend. Hermione had noticed Harry start to get more reserved as the festivities continued and decided to follow him upstairs to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, which being Harry it was likely to happen. The moment she reached his bedroom she saw Harry sitting on his bed talking to Hedwig.

"It's just not fair Hedwig, I've done nothing wrong and yet everyone around me has suffered and there's nothing I can do about it. I mean you should see how happy everyone is downstairs, that's how it should have always been, no death no misery. But I guess you can't always have what you want." Up until now Harry hadn't noticed that he had company, he turned to see Hermione staring at him with a sadness in her eyes that he had seen before.

"Hey Hermione, I didn't see you there." Harry said awkwardly

"Oh Harry, why didn't you tell anyone that you were feeling this way, I doubt that Remus, Sirius and Sam blame you for everything bad that's happened in their lives. Why do you feel the need to carry the blame for things that are out of your control?" as she was saying this Hermione walked into the room and sat next to Harry on his bed.

"Because, Hermione most of the things that have happened to them are because of me."

"Don't be ridiculous Harry; you weren't responsible for Remus becoming a werewolf, or Sirius getting sent to Azkaban or for Sam leaving. All those things just happened and you had no say in the matter, in fact all of that happened before you were born or when you were just a baby, you couldn't have done anything to stop any of it."

"My parents died because of me Hermione, if I hadn't been born then they would be alive right now and Remus, Sirius and Sam would be happy." Harry argued back.

"Your parents might have been alive if you hadn't been born but I doubt they would have been happy Harry. Sirius told me a few stories about them and he said that you were the cause of so much happiness when they were alive. They loved you so much and they died so that you could live a better life. They didn't die BECAUSE of you, they died FOR you Harry." Hermione said heatedly, she hated that Harry couldn't see how much joy he brought to everyone around him, how much everyone loved him and would do anything for him.

"That's all fair and well Hermione but what about you and Ron?" Harry said

"What about us?" she asked confused.

"Well if the two of you had never become friends with me then your lives would have been so much simpler and danger free. You never would have gotten petrified in second year. Ron wouldn't have broken his wand because we couldn't get on the Hogwarts Express. The both of you would have been better off not knowing me."

"No, Harry we wouldn't have been, in case you didn't know you were my first friend at Hogwarts. Before the troll incident I didn't have anyone to talk to but that changed when you and Ron ran into the girl's bathroom and saved me. You have no idea how grateful I am because of that." Although she had never told them this Hermione knew that Harry and Ron knew that she didn't have any real friends before them. "Now let's go back downstairs I heard Sirius talking about opening your presents without you if you didn't do it yourself soon." Hermione finished, with a smile.

Harry not completely convinced smiled at Hermione's attempt at cheering him up, he did feel better now that he was able to vent some of his frustrations to someone who could actually contribute something other than "whoo whoo" which was all Hedwig would say whenever he would try talking to her. "Thanks for the talk Hermione, it really helped."

"No problem Harry, and if you ever need to talk some more know that I'm here." replied Hermione with a smile. "Now let's go down to those presents, I hear someone got you a few defense books."

"I wonder who that could have been." Harry said with a slight smirk on his face.

"I guess you're just going to have to find out." Laughed Hermione as they raced down the stairs where they could hear the rest of the party.

"There you are Harry, I was wondering where you had run off to. Come on its time to open your presents." Sirius said happily when he spotted Harry and Hermione walking into the kitchen where everyone had gathered to eat the cake. "If I didn't know any better I would have said that the two of you were spending a bit of alone time upstairs." He finished with a smirk.

Harry and Hermione both turned red and headed in different directions, Harry to talk to the twins and Hermione to grab a drink. _Well that was interesting. I wonder what they were actually doing upstairs._ Sirius thought as he walked towards Remus and Sam. "Well I think we should get everyone to the living room so Harry can open his presents. What do you two think?"

"I think that is an excellent idea Padfoot. Why don't you start telling everyone where to go and I'll put all the presents in the living room." Remus replied as he headed towards his bedroom where all the presents were.

"Excellent. Alright everyone we are now going to go to the living room where we will bury Harry with all the gifts that we have gotten for him!" Sirius yelled. "Please follow me."

Everyone headed towards the living room where a table had been set up and where Remus had just finished putting all the gifts. "Right now Harry you sit right there so that you can be close to the table. Everyone else find a seat." Remus said indicating at am armchair close to the table for Harry.

The table was overflowing with gifts; the first to be opened was Mrs. Weasley's which as usual was a knit sweater with the Gryffindor lion on it as well as some of Harry's favorite treacle tart. Next were the twins who gave him a gift basket from Zonko's full of their favorite pranks (they made him promise that whenever he was thinking about using any of the products they would be informed so that they could help with the prank). Ron gave him a basket full of Honeydukes chocolates and Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. Ginny had given him a pair or Seeker gloves as she knew that his old pair of gloves was starting to tear. Hagrid had sent a few more pictures that he had so that Harry could add them to the photo album that he had gotten at the end of his first year at Hogwarts. Hermione true to her word had given him a few Defense Against the Dark Arts books as well as a book on Quidditch moves that she thought would help him during practices at Hogwarts. Remus, Sirius and Sam had said that their gift would be revealed after everyone had left because it was somewhat of a private gift.

"Thank you all for everything, you really shouldn't have gone to so much trouble I'm happy with just all of you here." Harry said in reply to all the gifts that he had received.

"We know Harry but you deserve all these things and we are more than happy to get them for you." Sirius said with a smile.

"Well I think it's time for us to go, Sirius, Remus thank you for inviting us." Mrs. Weasley said as she stood up.

"You know Molly if the children want to stay the night we have plenty of room here. Besides Hermione is going to stay for the rest of the summer seeing as her parents had a teeth conference to go to." Sirius said happily. "It would give you and Arthur some quiet time."

"Can we stay mum? Please?" Ron asked.

"Yeah mum can we?" Ginny asked excitedly.

"Well I suppose it would be alright, just please don't cause them any trouble." Mrs. Weasley said wearily. _It would be nice to have one night of quiet with Arthur. _

"Why we would never think to cause trouble. Frankly I am appalled that you think so little of us mother!" stated George in an offended tone.

"Right, I don't know what I was thinking." Mrs. Weasley replied smiling. "Goodnight children. Be good." With that said Mrs. Weasley walked into the fireplace and flooed back to the Burrow.

"Alright so Hermione and Ginny will share one room. Ron will share with Harry in his room and the twins will take another room." Remus said as he stood up. "I don't know about the rest of you but I am going to sleep. Night all."

"I'm with Remus. I am exhausted. See you all in the morning." Sam said as she too got up and headed upstairs.

"Now that the scary adults have left, what do you children want to do?" Sirius said happily.

"Sirius if you would be so kind as to help us with a little project that we have going on. We believe that someone of your standard would be very valuable to us." Fred said indicating at himself and George.

"Really? What is this 'little project' of yours?" Sirius asked intrigued

"Why don't we go to a more secure place? We wouldn't want our plan to end before we get the chance to execute it." George said secretively.

"Alright we can go to the library. We should be fine there. See you four in the morning, I have a feeling this will take a while." Sirius said as he got up and lead the twins upstairs.

Once they disappeared up the stairs Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny looked at each other. "Wonder what all that was about." Ron said curiously.

"They want Sirius's help with a prank." Ginny stated.

"How do you know that?" asked Ron.

"Its Fred and George, Ron. Plus Sirius is one of the original Marauders you know how much they worshipped that map that Sirius, Remus, and Harry's dad made. I'm surprised they haven't talked to him sooner."

"Ginny has a point. When they first gave me the map they told me how much that map helped them get around the castle and that they owed the creators so much." Harry said smiling.

"Well what do you all want to do now?" asked Hermione.

"I'm actually pretty tired. I think I'm just going to head up to bed. Which room is ours Harry?" Ginny said, indicating the last part to Harry.

"Remus has probably put your names on the door of the rooms he chose for you." Harry said sitting back on the armchair.

"Okay thanks. See you three in the morning." Ginny said.

"Wait up Gin, I think I'm going to go to bed too. I'm pretty beat." Ron said as he got up off the couch that he was sharing with Hermione.

"Are you two going to stay down here?" Ron asked has he started following Ginny out of the room.

"I thought I'd stay down here and read for a while since the library is taken." Hermione said as she took out a book from the bag she had been carrying.

"I'm not tired yet. I'll see you later Ron." Harry said.

"Okay well see you in the morning I guess." Ron replied. If he didn't know better he would have thought that Harry looked a little nervous. He shrugged off the feeling and headed to Harry's room which already had a cot ready for him.

* * *

Well? What did you think? I'm sorry for leaving it at a sort of cliffhanger but hopefully that will encourage me to update sooner to put you out of your misery. Review to let me know what you think. Also what do you think Fred and George are planning that they need Sirius's help? Must be something big. ^_^

Let me know what your theories are, and I might just tell you if you are right.

Until next time.


	10. Revelations

Here is chapter 10 after about a year of not updating this story. I am sorry to those few who actually read this, but like I said in my author's note that has been replaced with this chapter I am not giving up on this story. I am halfway through with chapter 11 and will hopefully have it posted in the next two weeks at the latest.

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Chapter 10

Revelations

Now that it was just the two of them Harry didn't know what to do. _Maybe I should just go to bed, no way am I going to be able to tell her what I feel. Besides, it's obvious that she fancies Ron; I wouldn't want to ruin that for her._

"Knut for your thoughts Harry?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind at the moment, didn't mean to space out." Replied Harry nervously.

"Is there something I can do to help? Even if you just need me to listen, I'm here Harry." Hermione stated as she got up and walked to the stove. "Why don't I make us some tea and you can tell me what's on your mind."

"I don't know if you're going to want to hear what I have to say Hermione; it could change a lot of things." Harry whispered so that Hermione could barely hear him.

"It can't be that bad Harry, and if it is then I'm sure we will find a way to deal with whatever it is, we always do." Hermione smiled.

Once the tea was ready and sitting in front of the two teens Harry didn't know how to begin, he didn't feel that telling her his feelings was the most appropriate thing to do at the moment, but if he didn't say anything now then he might not have the courage to do so another time.

"Before I say anything I want you to promise me that you won't interrupt me until I've said what I have to say." Harry said without looking up at her.

At this point Hermione was getting a bit worried about what it was that Harry needed to say to her. _Has something happened with Sirius? I hope he can still live with him and not those horrible muggle relatives of his._ "Of course Harry, I won't say anything until you've finished."

"Thanks. I'm not really sure where to being with this. I guess it all started at the end of last term, when you helped me free Sirius and capture Pettigrew. No wait that's not exactly right. I … I'm having a hard time explaining this, give me a moment." _What is wrong with you get it out in the open already, the worst that can happen is that she doesn't feel the same way and if that's the case then you move on. _"Here's the thing Hermione, I like you, a lot and I've been trying to figure out how to tell you since last term but I've been too afraid of you rejecting me to say anything." _There, it's out in the open. Now it's up to her to decide. _

Harry was too scared to look up at Hermione so instead he kept his head down and stirred his tea. Meanwhile on the other side of the table Hermione couldn't believe what she had just heard. _Did he just say what I thought he did? Have I fallen asleep without knowing it and this is just another of my dreams? He can't have just told me that he likes me, but then again it would explain that look he gave me before he blew out the candles of his cake. No! He can't be serious. _

"Hermione, please say something." Hermione was brought out of her inner argument by the sound of Harry's voice. "Look I understand if you don't feel the same way and if you want we can just forget that this entire conversation ever happened and just move on with our lives."

"I don't think I could ever move on with my life after a confession like that Harry. Can you give me a moment to gather my thoughts, I'll be right back." Hermione said as she got up and walked towards the kitchen door and up the stairs leaving Harry a little dumbfounded.

"Well at least now she knows." Harry said to himself.

"Who knows what?" a voice from the entrance questioned, Harry looked up to see that Sirius had entered the kitchen.

"What are you doing up Sirius? I thought you had gone to sleep already." questioned Harry.

"Couldn't sleep, thought I would come down here and make myself a nice hot cup of tea. I see now that I wasn't the only one with that idea." replied Sirius when he noticed the two cups of tea on the table. "What are you doing up?"

"I was talking to Hermione." Harry said in response. He was contemplating telling Sirius what he had just told Hermione. "I… I told her that I like her."

At hearing that Sirius gave Harry a small smile, "I knew there was something between the two of you, I noticed it that night at Hogwarts. What did she say when you told her?"

"She said she needed to gather her thoughts and then she walked out of the kitchen." Harry said dejectedly. "She's probably trying to figure out the best way to tell me that she's not interested."

"Now that I don't believe for a second, listen Harry I know you've had your share of rejection in your life but this is not going to be one of those times. I see the way the both of you look at each other when the other doesn't notice. They're the same looks that James and Lily used to give each other when the other wasn't looking. That girl is crazy about you; she just doesn't know how to say it." Sirius spoke passionately to his godson.

"I hope you're right Sirius, I don't want to lose her. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me." A small smile appeared on Harry's face as he thought about everything that Hermione had ever done for him.

"Oh really? I guess I mean nothing to you do I? I guess I'll just go hang myself in my bedroom then seeing as no one appreciates me." Sirius cried out mock-sadly.

"But if you die then I'll have to go back to the Dursley's, I need you around Sirius." Harry decided to play along with his godfather.

"Is that all I am good for? As an escape from those muggles? You boy are going to learn how to love me even if it kills you!" Sirius yelled out the last part as he threw himself at Harry. Noticing what his godfather had in mind Harry jumped from his chair and ran to the door leaving Sirius to plummet to the ground.

"I think you're going to die a lot sooner than I am if you keep this up Sirius," Harry laughed.

"No respect, the youth of today have no respect for their elders," whimpered Sirius sadly from the floor.

"Seeing as you act our age Sirius it's no wonder that Harry has no respect for you," Harry and Sirius both turned to look at the figure that was standing at the entrance of the kitchen right behind Harry who was too busy laughing at Sirius to notice that Hermione had reentered the kitchen. "Can I talk to you out here Harry?"

Harry turned to look at Sirius who was grinning like a fool. "Yeah, sure." He followed Hermione out in the hallway, far enough from Mrs. Black's portrait so as to not disturb her.

"I thought about what you said and I need you to promise me that you won't say anything until I've finished speaking." Hermione said as soon as Harry was in front of her.

"I promise." Harry said quietly anticipating what she would say; he did not however expect a hug that would rival that of Mrs. Weasley's.

"You have no idea how happy that made me feel Harry, I've liked you for so long but I never thought that you would ever feel the same way." Harry could feel a few tears on his shirt from where Hermione was hugging him.

"If that's the case then, Hermione would you like to be my girlfriend?" Harry asked with a big goofy smile on his face.

"I would love to Harry!" replied Hermione excitedly.

"Congratulations, you two. See Harry I told you there was nothing to worry about," came Sirius's voice form behind them. "Now I think the two of you should go get some sleep… in separate bedrooms of course." At that last part both teens turned a Weasley red and ran upstairs to their bedrooms.

That night neither Harry nor Hermione could get a wink of sleep; both teens spent the majority of the night thinking about how from here on in the dynamic of their friendship forever would be changed. They just hoped that Ron wouldn't have a problem with the two of them together. Harry always had the suspicion that he fancied Hermione but he couldn't be sure and he wasn't going to put his life on hold just because his best friend couldn't figure out what he wanted. This of course didn't mean that he wouldn't take Ron's feelings into account he would have to talk to his best friend tomorrow before letting the rest of the inhabitants at Grimmauld Place know about his newfound relationship with Hermione.

The next morning Harry still hadn't found a way to talk to Ron, he was afraid that this would be the end of their friendship and that was something that Harry didn't want. Ron had been his best friend since the day that they met on the Hogwarts Express and he didn't want anything to change that. "I'm just going to have to go up to him and tell him and hope that he's okay with it." Harry thought aloud as he walked to Ron's room. He stood outside of Ron's room for about five minutes debating whether he should come back at a later time when a door a few feet away from Ron's opened and out came Hermione.

"I see we both had the same idea," Hermione said when she saw that Harry was standing outside of Ron's room.

"Yeah I guess we did. I just can't bring myself to knock, I don't want our friendship to change because of what you and I have," Harry replied sadly.

"If Ron really treasures your friendship then this shouldn't change things." Hermione responded.

"Yeah I hope you're right Hermione," Harry said unconvincingly. "Do you mind if I tell him alone? I think he might take it better if it's just the two of us in the room."

"Sure, no problem. I'll go see if Mrs. Weasley needs any help with breakfast, that woman gets up at the crack of dawn to cook," said Hermione as she walked down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Here goes nothing." Harry said as he knocked on the door.

* * *

So what did you think? Bit of a cliffhanger but not too major, the chapter title of 11 is likely to tell you how Harry's conversation with Ron goes so it's not going to be too big of a surprise with how he reacts.

Until next time.


	11. Friendships and Old Love

Well I have finally finished chapter 11 and I am quite happy about how it eventually turned out, I had a bit of a problem in getting down what I wanted this chapter to be about but once I started thinking about it I found that it was quite simple. This is also my longest chapter to date and I hope that the rest will be just as long but I know that it might not always be the case.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**Friendships and Old Love **

It took a few minutes for the door to Ron's bedroom to open, in those few minutes Harry was seriously debating running for the hills if it meant he didn't have to have this conversation with his best friend. Eventually the door opened and a yawning Ron stood at the foot of the door. "Is it time for breakfast?" Ron asked tiredly.

"Not yet, Hermione is helping your mum get it ready." Harry replied. "Can I come in?"

Ron stepped aside to let Harry in and closed the door once the two of them were in the room. "What's up?" Ron asked as he walked to his bed and sat down.

"I wanted to talk to you before we headed down to the kitchen," said Harry.

"Talk to me about what?" Ron asked curiously. It wasn't every day that the two friends had a serious discussion; the closest they ever got to a heart to heart was when Harry begged Ron to forgive Hermione for getting Harry's Firebolt confiscated the year before.

"Before I get into what I wanted to talk to you about I need you to tell me what you feel towards Hermione," Harry said shakily.

"What do you mean? Are you asking if I fancy her?" Ron asked confused as to where this conversation was heading.

"Yeah I guess you could say that that's what I'm asking," Harry replied glad that he wouldn't have to explain thoroughly.

"Well it's not like I haven't thought about it, I mean Hermione is the only girl who can stand being around me for large periods of time, even though we tend to argue a lot. But at the same time, I see her like I see Ginny, she's like a sister to me and it would be a bit awkward if the two of us ever started dating. Why do you ask?" Ron said.

"Well I had always thought that there was something between you guys but you were just too stubborn to admit it," Harry remarked.

"Nah, I don't think Hermione would ever see me like that, which is a good thing mind you, it would be a bit strange having someone have feelings for you when you don't feel the same way. Especially if you've been friends for so long," Ron wisely remarked.

"When did you get so insightful?" Harry asked jokingly.

"I have my moments. You never answered my question by the way."

Harry hesitated before telling Ron about him and Hermione. "Something happened last night and it's going to change how the three of us interact with each other. But before I tell you I just want you to know that nothing is going to change between the two of us, you will always be my best mate and nothing will ever change that," Harry said nervously.

"You and Hermione?" Ron asked with a goofy grin on his face.

"Yeah," Harry replied sheepishly.

"Well it's about blood time!" Ron yelled out.

Harry looked at Ron in confusion and said, "What? What do you mean 'it's about bloody time'?"

"Come off it Harry, I've known for a while now that you fancied her, and although I could never be sure if Hermione felt the same way I always suspected it," Ron said still smiling.

"Well thanks for letting me know, it would have made things so much easier for me," Harry retorted playfully.

"Now what fun would that have been, I enjoyed watching you struggle," Ron said laughing. 'Besides I figured you weren't ready to tell her how you felt yet so I let it go."

"So you're really okay with this?" Harry asked surprised. He imagined an angry Ron storming out of the room, this calm happy Ron was not what he had anticipated.

"Of course I'm okay with it. Like you said, just because you're with Hermione now doesn't mean that you and I are going to stop being best mates. No girl would ever change that, not even Hermione." Ron said as he got up off his bed where he had been sitting for the entire conversation. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to get changed. I'll see you down at the kitchen in a bit."

Harry took this as his queue to go and stood up and walked to the door, before leaving however he stopped and turned, "Hey Ron, I'm glad this worked out."

"Yeah me too." Ron replied with a smile. At that Harry opened the door and headed down to the kitchen where he could hear muffled voices.

As he headed down the stairs and into the kitchen the voices Harry heard became clearer and he was able to discern them to be those of Mrs. Weasley, Hermione and surprisingly Sirius. Sirius was prone to waking up closer to lunch than to breakfast on most mornings leaving Harry to fend for himself on most mornings, not that he minded. He liked the quiet mornings before the hectic day began.

"Morning Harry, I'm surprised to see that I beat you to breakfast this morning," Sirius said over a steaming mug of coffee.

"Not as surprised as I am to see that you're out of bed before noon," Harry replied as he sat down next to Hermione and across from Sirius.

"Yes well the wondrous aromas that Molly's cooking emit tend to reach even my bedroom and I had no choice but to come down and have a taste," Sirius said smiling at Mrs. Weasley who was standing over a pan of sizzling bacon.

"Always the flatterer Sirius," Mrs. Weasley smiled.

"I only speak the truth Molly, your cooking really is amazing," replied Sirius with a lopsided grin.

"How did your conversation with Ron go? I'm assuming from the lack of yelling that he too it rather well," Hermione inquired quietly as Sirius continued to compliment Mrs. Weasley's cooking.

"It went great actually, he said that he had known for a while that it would happen but he didn't want to mention anything in case we weren't ready to accept our feelings." Harry replied smiling.

"Ron said that? Quite the philosopher he has become hasn't he," Hermione said in astonishment at the response their best friend had had once hearing of Harry and Hermione's change in relationship.

"I was just as surprised as you are when he told me, but I was glad to know that our relationship with him won't change just because you and I are together now. It makes everything so much easier." Harry said.

At that moment Mrs. Weasley interrupted their conversation, "Harry dear would you mind going up to Ron's room and tell him that breakfast is ready?"

"I was actually just up there Mrs. Weasley; he was getting dressed when I left. I assume he will be here soon." Harry told her as he started to pile food onto his plate. At that moment Ron came into the kitchen fully clothed and wide awake.

"Morning all," Ron said as he sat down next to Sirius and began to put half the food that was already prepared onto his plate. The three sitting at the table just started at Ron, never getting used to the amount of food the redhead could put into his stomach. "What? I'm hungry."

"What you put in your stomach in one day could feed a small army for a week Ronald," Hermione said as Ron began to eat.

The three ate in silence for a while before the other occupants of the house started coming down to the kitchen. Remus walked in and stood at the foot of the door staring at Sirius for several minutes. "Keep staring at me like that Moony and I am going to start to reconsider our friendship," Sirius said without looking up from the Daily Prophet.

"I'm sorry I'm just not used to seeing you awake this early. Back when we were at Hogwarts James and I would have to throw a bucket of water over your head just to get you to class on time," Remus said as he sat down next to Harry.

"Yes well I now have to provide for a young soul Remus, I can't have Harry here unsupervised now can I? Especially with his girlfriend under the same roof as him," Sirius said smirking slightly.

"Girlfriend? Padfoot what are you on about, Harry hasn't got a girlfriend," Remus asked confused.

"Oh but you are mistaken my dear friend," Sirius replied in a knowledgeable voice. "You see late last night our dear Mr. Potter declared his undying love for the lovely Ms. Granger and they are to be married by next week."

"Oh stop teasing them Sirius," Mrs. Weasley said sternly as she noticed the red faces of both Harry and Hermione. "Congratulations you two."

Remus looked at the two teens and smiled warmly at them, "I'm really happy for you. The moment I saw the two of you interact I was reminded of how James and Lily acted around each other that is when Lily wasn't trying to permanently land James in the hospital wing."

"I think it's about time this happened. You can't know how hard it is to look at them giving each other those lovey-dovey stares without the other noticing and not being able to do anything but watch," Ron said between mouthfuls.

"Thanks for the support Ron," Harry said mock glaring.

"Anytime mate," Ron smiled.

"Speaking of your parents Harry, we never told you how they got together did we?" Sirius asked as he finished off his second mug of coffee.

"It's quite a funny story actually, everyone in the Great Hall saw it happen which only adds to its hilarity," Remus said smiling at the memory.

"What happened?" Harry asked eager to learn more about his parents.

"Do you want to tell it Remus, you were after all there for the entire thing," Sirius said as he looked at his best friend.

"Well it was your average morning at Hogwarts, the Great Hall wasn't full of students yet it being fairly early in the morning for most students to be down at breakfast. I was there with James when he started to complain about Lily not wanting to date him, for the thousandth time. By this time his parents had already been killed by a group of Death Eaters which in turn made James more of a mature person, which Lily had noticed. They had slowly become good friends that year but Lily was still stubbornly rejecting James every time he asked her out. Of course we knew from talking to Lily's friends that she was close to finally admitting that she actually liked James. This particular morning she would show her true feelings."

"I don't get it Remus! What am I doing wrong? She would always say how immature I was but I'm not like that anymore and she still won't give me the time of day." James vented.

"Maybe if you would quit asking her out every time you see her," suggested Remus without looking up from the book he was reading.

"But what if she gets the wrong idea and starts to think that I'm losing interest in her? I could never let my Lily-flower think that," James responded.

"Then I don't know what to tell you James. Just say hello to her this morning with no other intention than to just be friendly," Remus said as he out his book down and started to eat his breakfast.

"I guess it's worth a try at least once," James agreed as he too began to dig into his food.

At that moment the girl in question walked into the Great Hall with a determined look on her face. Lily stopped at the entrance of the Great Hall and looked around at all the tables until she found what she had been looking for and started walking in the direction of the Gryffindor table where a few more students had now gathered. The moment she reached the place where James and Remus were sitting she seemed to have lost some of her steam; she just stood there and stared at James.

James seemed to notice that someone was standing over him; he looked up and saw the object of his affections staring at him. "Oh, hey Evans," he said giving Remus' advice a chance.

At the sound of his voice Lily seemed to have broken out of her trance and pulled James up off his seat and kissed him in front of the entire Great Hall. Once James got over his shock at finally having his lips meet Lily's he kissed her back just as ferociously as she was kissing him. Throughout the entire hall catcalls could be heard from those who had witnessed this life changing event.

Remus who was the closest to the two of them could only stare in shock at what was going on in front of him. Behind Lily he could see Sirius with the same shocked face; he had apparently been a few minutes behind Lily in leaving the common room and had only just arrived at the scene.

A few minutes later Lily and James finally broke apart for some much needed air and just looked at each other both with goofy grins on their faces. James then let go of Lily and tackled Remus to the ground, "I can't believed it worked! You're a genius Mooney, I promise to listen to you more often," James said thinking that his casual greeting to Lily had been the reason that she finally kissed him.

"Not that I don't appreciate you finally seeing my way of thinking James but I'm pretty sure you just saying hello to Lily was the reason she finally kissed you," Remus said from his position on the floor.

"You know you might be right. I guess I finally wore her down," James replied happily.

"Might I suggest asking our dear Evans why she kissed you Prongs," Sirius said, finally regaining his speech. At that all three boys turned to look at a red faced Lily waiting for her to say something. When she noticed that the entire hall was looking at the four of them Lily's faced turned even redder than they thought possible and she raced out of the hall. James just stared as she ran away Sirius and Remus stared at each other and then pushed James in Lily's direction and yelled, "Go!"

James finally snapped out of his trance and raced after Lily.

"Later we found out that Lily's dorm mates had dared her to kiss James the moment she saw him at breakfast. James then told us that she had been developing feelings for him for a while but she didn't want to admit it after all the times that she had rejected him. Eventually though it became too much for her to handle and figured that the dare was the perfect time for her to let him know how she felt. After that they were pretty much inseparable." Remus finished with a sad smile on his face.

"It got to the point where we thought that Lily had abducted him, that's how often we got to see him or rather didn't," Sirius continued.

"It sounds like they were happy together, I just wish they would have had more time to be happy," Harry said smiling sadly at the image of his parents as young carefree teenagers.

"Trust me Harry, they took advantage of the time that they did have together and both would have gladly given their lives all over again if it meant that you got to be happy," Sirius said while putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Now off with you! Go have some fun and leave us old farts to our business."

"You may be old Sirius but I have never felt younger," Remus said smiling.

"We'll see you guys later then," Harry said knowing that an argument was surely to take place. Harry, Ron and Hermione walked out of the kitchen just in time to hear something break and Sirius yelling, "You calling me old Mooney! We will see about that!"

"Let's go up to the drawing room for a while," Hermione suggested, she didn't want to be anywhere near those two when they got into one of their pranking moods.

"Good idea, let's leave those two to fend for themselves," Harry said as he led the way up the stairs still thinking about the story that Remus had just finished telling him. He felt that he was much closer to his parents every time he heard a story about their time at Hogwarts which only made him feel more secure about who he was.

* * *

What did you think about my take on how James and Lily got together? Also I can't remember if I told the story of how the Marauders met Lily and if I didn't I have a few ideas of how that might go. Let me know what you think.

Until next time.


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